SB 839

This bill creates a categorical aid for a school district that qualifies for sparsity

aid under current law but that does not receive sparsity aid payments from the

Department of Public Instruction because of high property valuation in the school

district. A school district qualifies for sparsity aid under current law if the number

of pupils, or membership, in the district is no more than 725 and if the membership

divided by the school district's area in square miles is less than ten. A school district

that qualifies for the categorical aid under the bill receives the lesser of the following:

1) an amount determined by multiplying the equalized valuation of the school

district by the difference between the mill rate of the school district and the statewide

average mill rate; or 2) the amount by which the tertiary guaranteed valuation per

member of the school district exceeds the school district equalized valuation

multiplied by the tertiary required levy rate.

Current law defines the equalized valuation of a school district as the full value

of the taxable property in each part of each city, village, and town in each school

district; this value is determined, annually, by the Department of Revenue, which

certifies the amount to DPI. Current law defines “tertiary guaranteed valuation per

member" as the amount, rounded to the next lower dollar, determined by dividing the

equalized valuation of the state by the state total membership. Current law defines

“tertiary required levy rate" as the tertiary shared cost divided by the tertiary

guaranteed valuation. Current law defines “tertiary shared cost" as that portion of

a school district's shared cost which is greater than the secondary ceiling cost per

member multiplied by its membership. Finally, current law defines the “secondary

ceiling cost per member" as an amount determined by dividing the state total shared

cost in the previous school year by the state total membership in the previous school

year and multiplying the result by 0.90.